Better Halves

Important Dinner for Women

Some men would revel in being among only a handful of representatives of their gender at a dinner attended by supermodels (Iman), Hollywood actresses (Nicole Kidman), high-powered female executives (Indra Nooyi), royalty (Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan), and three hundred other women. But during cocktail hour on a recent evening, at Cipriani 42nd Street, Rupert Murdoch was glancing at his watch.

“It’s going to be half an hour before you get everyone sitting down, and I have to go,” he said to his wife, Wendi Murdoch, who, along with Nooyi, the C.E.O. of PepsiCo, and Queen Rania, was one of the hosts of the event, which was called the Important Dinner for Women. Mrs. Murdoch, who was wearing a strapless black-and-gold gown, dismissed her husband’s concerns. “How many times have I had to listen to your speeches?” she said.

“And yours are long,” Matthew Freud, the public-relations man, who is married to Elisabeth Murdoch, Rupert’s daughter, said.

“Right! Mine is, like, two seconds,” Mrs. Murdoch said, and swept off into the dining room, her husband trailing behind.

The Important Dinner for Women, of which this was the fourth, was started at Davos in 2008. “It was in this little chalet, with thirty women, and it was the loudest room you ever heard,” Julie Hamp, who does communications for PepsiCo, said. At that event, Rupert Murdoch passed out drinks, along with Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Eric Schmidt; Bono served soup. Claudia Gonzalez, the head of P.R. for the United Nations’ refugee agency, recalled, “Larry and Sergey were serving water, and Murdoch said, ‘We need to do something different,’ and went and got a bottle of vodka.”

The party at Cipriani coincided with the meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, and constituted a formidable concentration of plus-ones, including Sarah Brown, the wife of the British Prime Minister, and Dorrit Moussaieff, the First Lady of Iceland. Mrs. Moussaieff said that it made sense for political spouses to work together. “One meets so many women in a similar position,” she said. “We meet at weddings and funerals.”

The purpose of the event was to raise money to prevent maternal and infant deaths in childbirth, a subject dear to Wendi Murdoch. In her speech, she explained, “When I had my first child, eight years ago, I asked my doctor, ‘What are my chances of dying in childbirth?’ Why did I ask? Because my grandmother had died giving birth to my mom.” She added, “There is no gift you can give your mother that can ever equal her gift to you—life.”

Guests ate beet salad and branzino al forno and listened to statistics about the dangers of childbirth. (More than half a million women die each year as a result of complications from pregnancy or labor.) Sarah Brown gave the keynote speech. “Whatever you buy next for yourselves—a pair of shoes, a dress, a holiday, a car, or even a house—make an equal donation to the White Ribbon Alliance,” she said, referring to a not-for-profit group dedicated to improving maternal and infant health.

By the time dessert was served, women were rising from their chairs to make pledges of support. Naomi Campbell said that she had persuaded Louis Vuitton to donate a bag to be auctioned. Diane von Furstenberg said, “I will create something for mothers and daughters, and all the proceeds will go to the White Ribbon Alliance.” Natalia Vodianova, the model, said that she has been designing a line of lingerie, and would make a special White Ribbon collection. “We all need clothes and underwear,” she said.

Geri Halliwell, the former Spice Girl turned United Nations good-will ambassador, rose to speak. She called upon the women in the room to recognize the frailties of the chaps in charge. “A lot of these men are little guys in grownup suits,” Halliwell, who has a three-year-old daughter, said. “And a lot of men don’t want to hear about women’s bits—they really don’t.”

After sitting down, Halliwell said that she had recently been to Nepal, where she met the Prime Minister, Madhav Kumar Nepal. “You know guys—you have to nurture them a bit,” she said. She had given the Prime Minister a maternal pinch on the cheek. “He appreciated it,” she said. “And he told me he was scared. He had been Prime Minister for only three months.” On her cell phone she pulled up a shot of herself, in a turquoise sari, with her arm around the diminutive, smiling head of state, and said, “With collective energy, we can mother men into doing the right thing.” ♦